[PATCH v3 2/5] binder: Make shrinker rely solely on per-VMA lock
From: Suren Baghdasaryan
Date: Sun Aug 02 2026 - 17:59:03 EST
From: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
tl;dr: lock_vma_under_rcu() is already a trylock. No need to do both
it and mmap_read_trylock().
Long Version:
== Background ==
Historically, binder used an mmap_read_trylock() in its shrinker code.
This ensures that reclaim is not blocked on an mmap_lock. Commit
95bc2d4a9020 ("binder: use per-vma lock in page reclaiming") added
support for the per-VMA lock, but left mmap_read_trylock() as a
fallback.
This was presumably because the per-VMA locking can fail for several
reasons and most (all?) lock_vma_under_rcu() callers have a fallback
to mmap_read_trylock().
== Problem ==
The fallback is not worth the complexity here. lock_vma_under_rcu() is
essentially already a non-blocking trylock. The main reason it fails
is also the reason mmap_read_trylock() fails: something is holding
mmap_write_lock().
The only remedy for a collision with mmap_write_lock() is to wait,
which this code can not do. So the "fallback" after
lock_vma_under_rcu() failure is not really a fallback: it is really
likely to just be retrying in vain. That retry in an of itself isn't
horrible. But it adds complexity.
== Solution ==
Now that per-VMA locks are universally available, lock_vma_under_rcu()
will not persistently fail. Rely on it alone and simplify the code.
Full disclosure: I originally tried to do this with
lock_vma_under_rcu_wait(), but it did not fit well with the mmap_lock
trylock semantics. Claude caught this in a review and suggested the
approach in this path. It seemed sane to me. So, Suggesed-by: Claude,
I guess.
Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Arve Hjønnevåg <arve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Todd Kjos <tkjos@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Christian Brauner <christian@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Carlos Llamas <cmllamas@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "David S. Miller" <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: David Ahern <dsahern@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
drivers/android/binder_alloc.c | 29 +++++++++++++++--------------
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c b/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
index e4488ad86a65..84104ba04e30 100644
--- a/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
+++ b/drivers/android/binder_alloc.c
@@ -1142,7 +1142,6 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
struct page *page_to_free;
unsigned long page_addr;
- int mm_locked = 0;
size_t index;
if (!mmget_not_zero(mm))
@@ -1151,14 +1150,20 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
index = mdata->page_index;
page_addr = alloc->vm_start + index * PAGE_SIZE;
- /* attempt per-vma lock first */
+ /*
+ * Attempt per-vma lock. This is essentially a
+ * "trylock". It can fail even if the VMA exists
+ * for 'page_addr'.
+ */
vma = lock_vma_under_rcu(mm, page_addr);
if (!vma) {
- /* fall back to mmap_lock */
- if (!mmap_read_trylock(mm))
- goto err_mmap_read_lock_failed;
- mm_locked = 1;
- vma = vma_lookup(mm, page_addr);
+ /*
+ * If the vma exists, we can't continue because we cannot
+ * remove the page from the vma. However, if the vma was
+ * unmapped, it's okay to continue.
+ */
+ if (binder_alloc_is_mapped(alloc))
+ goto err_vma_lock_failed;
}
if (!mutex_trylock(&alloc->mutex))
@@ -1191,9 +1196,7 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
}
mutex_unlock(&alloc->mutex);
- if (mm_locked)
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
- else
+ if (vma)
vma_end_read(vma);
mmput_async(mm);
binder_free_page(page_to_free);
@@ -1203,11 +1206,9 @@ enum lru_status binder_alloc_free_page(struct list_head *item,
err_invalid_vma:
mutex_unlock(&alloc->mutex);
err_get_alloc_mutex_failed:
- if (mm_locked)
- mmap_read_unlock(mm);
- else
+ if (vma)
vma_end_read(vma);
-err_mmap_read_lock_failed:
+err_vma_lock_failed:
mmput_async(mm);
err_mmget:
return LRU_SKIP;
--
2.55.0.508.g3f0d502094-goog